Prev | Home | Next

Sarah Thomason and Terence Kaufman make a distinction between interference and borrowing. Borrowing is characteristic of speakers who incorporate foreign into their native languages : the language is maintained but is changed by the addition of the incorporated features Interference through shift refers to the process in which a group of speakers shift to another language but fail to learn the target language completely1.

Weinreich refers to all these criteria as interference2.

E. Annamalai has used another term: convergence. Convergence is a linguistic process of transference or diffusion of linguistic features of one language (1.1) into another (1.2). Convergence can be bi-or multidirectional3.

For convenience, the phenomena of linguistic influence of dominant languages like Sambalpuri and Oriya on Laria has been alternatively called borrowing, interference and transfer as done by Seliger & Vago (1991).

The first section deals with the linguistic aspects of language contact and the second section deals with the sociolinguistic factors and external factors to study the phenomen of language attrition.

_______________________________
1 S. Thomason & T. Kaufman, (1991) , Language Contact, Genetic Linguistics and Creolization, University of California, Berkeley, pp. 38-39.
2 U. Weinreich (1953), Languages in Contact, Mouton, The Hague, p. 11.
3 E. Annamalai (1998), 'Convergence : A Distinction Process of Language Contact ' in R.S. Gupta & K.S. Agarwal (eds.), Studies in Indian Sociolinguistics, Creative Books, New Delhi. Pp. 110-111.

5.1 LINGUISTICS ASPECTS

5.1.1 PHONOLOGICAL BORROWING

5.1.1.1 Loss of /"/

The first and most apparent phonological change in Laria of Western Orissa is the deletion of the central unrounded vowel /"/ from the phonemic inventory. None of the speakers (informants) used /"/ in their speech. This phenomena is common to all informants regardless of age, sex, education, background etc. This vowel does not exist in sambalpuri and Oriya too. /"/ has been substituted by the back rounded vowel //, i.e., /"/  in in contact with Oriya and Sambalpuri. This is a characteristic feature of Oriya and Sambalpuri which has been incorporated by dominant language interference into Laria. The following illustrate the above feature.

Laria (MP) /Chhattisgarhi Laria (O) Sambalpuri / Oriya
k"r'do' kr'do' kr'do'
k"pr?a'cloth' kpr?a 'cloth' kpr?a 'cloth'
g"r"m'hot' grm'hot' grm'hot'
s"b'all' sbu'all' sbu'all'

5.1.1.2 Nasalisation

All vowels have nasalized counterparts in Laria (M.P.) / Chattisgarhi. But Laria (O) does not have nasalized vowels for the front unrounded vowel /e/ and the back rounded /o/. As Oriya and Sambalpuri do not have nasalised phonemic counterparts of the vowels /e/ and /o/ have been lost in this contact situation.

Standard Oriya does not have the lower-mid vowel /e/. But this vowel occurs in Sambalpuri, therefore it still exists in the phonemic inventory of Laria (O). For example:

Laria Sambalpuri Oriya
gaebar gaebar gaiba
'sing' 'sing' 'sing'
bE)k bE)k bek
'neck' 'neck' 'neck'
rati / raet raet rati
'night' 'night' 'night'

5.1.1.3 Overgeneralisation

Due to contact and change of the vowel /"/ to //, other vowels like /e/ (mid front), /i/ (high front), /o/ (mid back) have been changed to // in Laria. For example:

Laria (MP) Laria (O) Sambalpuri / Oriya
t? tE) tui/tme
heis his / heis hela
kihis khis khela/khila
mola mla Mte
tola tla tte
ok"r kr tahar/tahar
Andersen's all the 3 hypotheses for languages - contact situation hold good in Laria.

(1) The bilingual Laria speaker of Orissa does fewer phonological distinctions in his use of language than the Laria speaker of M.P. Even in the change of vowel /e/ to /#/ in his / heis 'happened', heis was used more by the order informants and his by the younger informants.

(2) Even though the phonemic status of the nasalized mid-vowels /e/ and /o/ are lost in Laria (O) due to contact with Standard Oriya, the lower mid vowel /e/ still exists in Laris (O) as it is present in Sambalpuri but not in Standard Oriya.

(3) Distinctions with a higher functional load, for example, vowels in suffixes, have survived in Laria even when they have been lost in words where the distinction have a lower functional load.

5.1.2 SYNTACTIC BORROWING

Thomason and Kaufman (1988) distinguish borrowing from structural contact. However, they claim that structural change involves language shift due to substratum or superstatum interference, i.e., 1.2 interference in 1.1 due to imperfect learning4. Thomson and Kaufman claim that borrowing is characteristic of language maintenance with intensive contact rather than that of language shift which they associate with structural change5. However in borrowing they include Grammatical Borrowing especially in Phonology and Syntax.

In case of syntactic change, assuming the parametric - setting hypothesis, we would expect one underlying setting change to result in a number of concomitant surface innovations, mirroring features of the source language6.

With respect to the syntax module of grammar, the most common strategy appears to be rule generalization: an L2 rule is extended to 1.17.

Prolonged language contact leads to syntactic reanalysis as shown by Arora and Subbarao in the case of Dakkhini Hindi-Urdu. Syntactic reanalysis of an existing category results, among other things, in category change and sometimes a change in the syntactic position of a constituent. Such change may
______________________
4 S. Thomason and T. Kaufman, op.cit., p.50.
5 R. Posner (1995), 'Contact, Social Variants, Parameter setting, and Pragmatic function', in J. Fisiak (ed.), Linguistics Change under Contact Conditions, Mouton de Gruyteeer, Berlin, p. 219.
6 Ibid.
7 H. W. Seligar and R. Vago (1991), 'The study of first language attrition: an overview'. in H. W. Seligaar and R. Vago (eds.), First language attrition, Cambridge University Press.
automatically bring in changes in the function of a specific category. Reanalysis is a mechanism of syntactic change where a form may lose its original function and is reanalyzed to perform various new funtions8

5.1.2.1 Complementizer belke

Complement construction and relative participal construction in Dakkhini are examples of such a reanalysis which can be extended to Laria. The postponed complementizer belke in Laria hjas an extended semantic and syntactic range which are found in Oriya and Sambalpuri but not in Chattisgarhi/ Laria (M.P.). Some of the functions as given by Arora and Subbarao of complementizers are also found in Laria as illustrated below.

5.1.2.1.1 As a Reason Marker

L(O) tE) ase belke mor kam his
you came COMP my work happened
'My work was done because you came'.

O tme asil boli mo kam hela
you came COMP my work happened
'My work was done because you came'.

C/L(M.P.) * te ase k"ke mor kam heis
you came COMP my work happened
'My work was done because you came'.

______________________________
8 H. Arora & K.V. Subbarao (1990), Syntactic Change: The Case of Dakhini Hindi-Urdu. University of Delhi, Delhi, MS., p. 1.

5.1.2.1.2 As a Purposive Marker

L(O) ine kam krih belke mE) asiha
here work do-FUT COMP I come
'I have come here to work'.

O eithi kam kribi boli mu asichi
here work do-FUT COMP I come
'I have come here to work.'

C/L (M.P.) *yaha kam k"rih k"ke me asiha
here work do-FUT COMP I come
'I have come here to work.'
5.1.2.1.3 As a Quotative Marker

L(O) ra:m sinema jath belke khis kintu ni guis
Ram cinema go-CONT COMP said but NEG go-PST
'Ram said that he'd go to the cinema but did not go'.

O ra:m sinema jauchi boli khila kintu gla ni
Ram cinema go-CONT COMP said but go-PST NEG
'Ram said that he'd go to the cinema but did not go'.

C/L (M.P.) *ra:m sinema jath k"ke kihis p"r ni gis
Ram cinema go-CONT COMP said but NEG go
'Ram said that he'd go to the cinema but did not go'.

5.1.2.1.4 In constructions expressing desire, intention and thought

L(O) mor pakhe gad?i t?e thau belke mor iccha
my near car CL there COMP my desire
'I have a desire to have a car'.

S mor pakhe gad?i t?e thau blikiri mor iccha
my near car CL keep COMP my desire
'I have a desire to have a car'.

C/L (M.P.) *mor k"ra gad?i t?hi r"khae k"ra mor iccha
my near car CL keep COMP my desire
'I have a desire to have a car'

5.1.2.1.5 As a Question word complementizer

L ra:ju ka belke lekhise
Raju QUES COMP write-PST
'What did Raju write?'

S ra:ju kae blikiri lekhise
Raju QUES COMP write-PST
'What did Raju write?'

C/L(M.P.) *ra:ju ka k"ke likhise
Raju QUES COMP write-PST
'What did Raju write?'

5.1.2.1.6 To express deliberateness

L hri bha?gihi belke gilas la pkais
Hari break-FUT COMP glass ACC drop-PST
'Hari dropped the glass deliberately'.

S hri bha?gihi belikiri gilas ke pkala
Hari break-FUT COMP glass ACC drop-PST
'Hari dropped the glass deliberately'.

C/L(M.P.) *h"ri tutihi k"ke gilas l" p"keis
Hari break-FUT COMP glass ACC drop-PST
'Hari dropped the glass deliberately'.

5.1.2.1.7 For Naming and Labelling

L(O) jy belke pila la tE) janehas ka
Ajay COMP boy ACC you know QUES
'Do you know a boy called Ajay?'

S jy blikiri pila ke tui janichu kaE)
Ajay COMP boy ACC you know QUES
'Do you know a boy called Ajay?'

C/L(M.P.) *"j"y k"ke tura l" t? ja:nths ka Ajay COMP boy ACC you know QUES
'Do you know a boy called Ajay?'

5.1.2.1.8 As an Introducer

L(O) ila e ram belke mor s?h
this is Ram COMP my friend
'This is Ram my friend'

S i:ta e ra:m blikiri mor s?g
this is Ram COMP my friend
'This is Ram my friend'.

C/L(M.P.) *y"h e ra:m k"ke mor s?g
this is Ram COMP my friend
'This is Ram my frined'.

5.1.2.1.9 In Onomatopoeic Expressions

L(O) dhd? belke jor se sbd his
COMP loud with sound happened
'There was a loud thud'.

O dhd? boli jor re sbd hela
COMP loud with sound happened
'There was a loud thud'.

C/L (M.P.) * dhd? k"ke jor se a:vaj hois
COMP loud with sound happened
'There was a loud thud'

5.1.2.2 Degenitivisation

In consonance with the digenitivisation of Dakkhini Hindi-Urdu due to contact with Telugu, Laria also has cases of degenitivisation in some constructions. These constructions are formed due to its intensive contact with Oriya and Sambalpuri. For example,

5.1.2.2.1 Infinitival construction

C/L (M.P.) raju ke a:ne ki tarik
Raju GEN coming GEN date
'The date of Raju's arrival'

L(O) raju ke a:sbar Ø tarik
Raju GEN coming date
'The date of Raju's arrival'

O raju Ø asiba Ø tarik
Raju coming date
'The date of Raju's arrival'

5.1.2.2.2 Adverbial + a participal phrase

C/L (MP) sub"h ke gis e n"uk"r
morning GEN gone is servant
'The servant who is gone since morning'

L(O) skalu Ø guis e cake
morning gone is servant
'The servant who is gone since morning'

O skalu Ø jai thiba cakr
morning gone servant
'The servant who is gone since morning'

5.1.2.2.3 Compound post positions

C/L (MP) ca:r gh"nt?e (ke) ba:d
four hours GEN after
'After four hours'.

O ca:ri gh"nt?e Ø pre
four hours after
'After four hours'

L caer gh"nt?e Ø ba:d
four hours after
'After four hours'

5.1.2.3 Negative Relative Participle

The Negative Relative Participle parameter states that a language will have a negative relative participle construction if it has post-verbal negatives as in Oriya9.

O [Ø kichi bhi pisa nthiba] lok
anything EMP money NEG be man
'the man who doesn't have money….

[M.lalitha 1990]

H/U *[ Ø n"hi likha hua:] a:dmi
NEG write-PERF be-PERF man
'The man who didn't write. . . .
[Arora 1989]

Due to extreme and intense contact between Laria and Oriya, Laria has developed negative relative participles even though it has pre-verbal negative. For example,
_________________________________
9 M. Lalitha (1990), 'Pariticipal Constructions: A Cross-Linguistic Study', University of Delhi, Delhi, MS. p. 3.

C/L(MP) *[n"i khais] lok
NEG eat man
'The man who has not eaten….

L(O) [ni khaela] lok
NEG eat man
'The man who has not eaten…

O [khai n thiba] lok
eat NEG be man
'The man who has not eaten….

5.1.2.4 Negative Conjunctive Participle

Negative conjunctive participles does not exist in Chattisgarhi / Laria (M.P.)

C/L(M.P.) *n"i kha ke sut gis
NEG eat do sleep went
'He went off to sleep without eating'.

However such constructions have become grammatical in Laria spoken in Orissa. For example

L(O) ni khae ke sui guis
NEG eat do sleep went
'He went off to sleep without eating'.

S ni khai kri sui gla
NEG eat do sleep went
'He went off to sleep without eating'.

5.1.2.5 Passives

The most common type of passive construction is the agentless is the passive in Laria (O) and Oriya.

L(O) cit?t?hi pt?hae diya guis
letters send given went
'The letters were sent'.

O cit?t?hi pt?hei diya gla
letter send given went
'The letters were sent'.

The 'dwara' constructions are ungrammatical or very marked in Oriya. Speakers today would designate these pejoratively as Anglicized Oriya constructions10.

(1) ta dwara kri para ja:c
he + GEN by do+INF can + PASS - AUX + T + AGR
'It could be done by him'.

[Patnaik 1998]

Similarly, the 'duara' constructions are ungrammatical in Laria. Although now, many of the younger speakers do not have any problems in using constructions such as

L(O) * ra:m duara sita ma:r khathe
Ra;m by Sita hit eats
'Sita gets beaten by Ram'

______________________
10 B.N. Patnaik (1998), 'A Study of some Borrowed Constructions in Oriya' in (ed.) R.S. Gupta and K.S. Aggarwal, Studies in Indian Sociolinguistics, Creative Books, New Delhi, p. 137

This might be due to the influence of English as stated by Patnaik (1998) for Oriya. This construction is acceptable in Chattisgarhi / Laria (M. P.)

C/L (MP) ra:m dwara si:ta ma:r khathe
Ram by Sita hit eats
'Sita gets beaten by Ram'.

'dvara' constructions are now being accepted even in Hindi, especially in officialese and journalese.11

H s"rkar dvara ka:rya:l"yo me hindi: ka: pr"yog
government by offices in Hindi of use
b"r?ha:ne ka: pr"yas kiya: ja raha: hai
increase of effort done being
'Efforts are being made by the government to increase the use of Hindi in offices'

[Kachru, 1980]

Most of the other structures are same in Laria (O), Chattisgarhi / Laria (M.P.). Sambalpuri and Oriya due to their genetic similarity. Only the functional lexical items in Laria (O) have changed according to their Sambalpuri and Oriya counterparts, for example.

C/Laria (M.P.) Laria(O) Sambalpuri/Oriya
Reflexive "pnec - a:p nije nije
Classifier t?hi/t?h*n t?a t?a

These have been discussed in more detail in the section on Morphological Borrowing.

_________________________________
11 Y. kachru (1980), Aspects of Hindi Grammar, Manohar Publications, New Delhi, p. 108.

5.1.3 MORPHOLOGICAL BORROWING
The question of morphological borrowing has been a debatable topic amongst linguists. Many linguists of repute have questioned the possibility of grammatical, at least, morphological, influence altogether. 'The grammatical systems of two languages ….. Are impenetrable to each other', said Meillet, 12 and he was echoed by Sapir: 'Nowehere do we find any but superficial morphological interinfluencings'13. With closely knit structures (dichte Zusammenschlusse), like inflectional endings, are not secure against invasion by foreign material'14.

Weinreich is of the view that morphological interference is easier if the to languages have similar morphological endings. Thomason and Kaufman are also of the view that syntactic borrowings are easier than morphological borrowings. Languages, especially inflecting languages, have a close-knit morphological structure and they are less susceptible to morphological interference than syntactic.

As known Laria is a highly inflecting language but shows heavy influence in the are of morphology. The degree of morphological borrowings can be seen in cross linguistic structures as given below:

__________________________
12 A. Mellet (1938), c f. U. Weinreich, op. cit., p. 29
13 E. Sapir(1927), c f. U. Weinreich, op. cit., p. 29.
14 H. Schuchardt (1928), c f., U. Weinreich, op. cit., p. 29.

5.1.3.1 Inflectional Morphology

5.1.3.1.1 Nouns

5.1.3.1.1.1 Number

The number marker in all the three languages is formed by compounding the plural marker.

C/Laria (M.P.) Laria (O) Sambalpuri Oriya
people PL People PL PL people PL people PL PL

The other plural marker gera seems to have been borrowed from Oriya.

5.1.3.1.1.2 Case

The case markers of three languages have been compared in te table given below:

C/Laria (M.P.) Laria (O) Sambalpuri/Oriya
Nominative Ø Ø Ø
Accusative l" la ke/ku
Dative l" la ke/ku
Locative u:p"r/k"ra upre/pakhe upre/uprepakhe/pakhre
Ablative le nu nu/ru
Commutative s"? sa?ge/s?ge sa?ge/sa?ge
Instrumental me t?hi t?hi/re
Genitive ke ke r/r

The accusative, dative and genitive case markers have been retained in the language while the other case markers like Locative, Ablative, Communicative, Instrumental have been borrowed from Sambalpuri. In accusative and dative cases /l"l has been changed to lal due to the absence of the low mid vowel /"/ in the phonemic inventory.

5.1.3.1.2 Pronouns

5.1.3.1.2.1 Number & Person

The Singular and Plural pronouns in all the three person i.e. 1st, 2nd and 3rd have been compared in the table given below:

C/Laria (M.P.) Laria (O) Sambalpuri/Oriya
Person Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st m?I ha:mwe mE)I ha:mwe mui/muI ame/amewe
2nd t?you tum"nyou tE)you tumyou tui/tuyou tumhe tmeyou
tuyou tum"nyou(hon) tumyou(hon) tumneyou(hon) tuhe/tmeyou(hon) tunhe monetme maneyou(hon)
3rd ohe om"nhey pnehe u:mnethey se/siehe semane semanthey
om"nhe(hon) i:m"nthey(hon) um"ne/omnehe (hon) imnethey(hon) semane/semanehe(hon) semne semanthey(hon)

5.1.3.1.2.2 Non-true personal pronouns

C/Laria (M.P.) Laria (O) Sambalpuri/Oriya
Person Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
3rd i:this i:m"nthese i:this i:gerathese i:/ethis i:mane /eimanthese
e:yethis one e m"nthese people i:pnethis one i:mnethese people i/eithis one i:mane/ei manethese people
othat om"nthose sethat se gerathose se/seithat seman/ser manethose
op"nthat one om"nthose people sepnethat one semnethose people se/seithat semanethose people

It can be seen that non-true personal pronouns have been totally replaced by Sambalpuri pronouns.

5.1.3.1.2.3 Reflexive pronouns

The table below shows that reflexive pronouns in Laria (O) have been borrowed from Sambalpuri

C/Laria (M.P.) Laria (O) Sambalpuri/Oriya
Reflexive possessivepronoun "p"n/khud keself POSS nije keself POSS nije r/nijrself POSS
Emphaticreflexivepronoun "p"nec a:p/khudself nijeself nije/nijeself
Reflex ivepronoun "p"n/khudself nijeself nije/nijself

5.1.3.1.2.4 Relative pronouns

A comparison of the relative pronouns shows that most of relative pronouns have been borrowed from Sambalpuri.

C/Laria (M.P.) Laria (O) Sambalpuri/Oriya
who je jen/jie jen/jie/jou
whom j"la jla jahake/jahaku
where jaha jene jene/jout?hi
when j"b jeb?he jeb?he/jebe
5.1.3.1.2.5 Possessive pronouns

The possessive pronouns have been retained in the language

C/Laria (M.P.) Laria (O) Sambalpuri/Oriya
Person Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st mor ha:m"r mor ha:mr mor/mor amr/amr
2nd tor tumhor tor tumhr tor/tor tmr/tmr
tumhor(hon) tumhr(hon) tmhr(hon) tmhr tmr (hon)
3rd ok"r om"nke kr omnke tar/tar taha?kr/taha?kr
uk"r(hon) ukr(hon) taha?kr/taha?kr(hon)

5.1.3.1.2.6 Indefinite Pronouns

All the indefinite pronouns in Laria (O) have been borrowed from Sambalpuri as shown in the table given below:

C/Laria (M.P.) Laria (O) Sambalpuri/Oriya
anyone k"hunb?hi kiye bhi kiyebhi/kiyebhi
anything k"chu kichi bhi / kala bhi kichi bhi/kichi bhi
anywhere k"hun/konho kene bhi kene bhi/kout?hi bhi
somewhere k"hun k"ra kene gut?e kene gut?e/kout?hi got?e
someone k"hun ek jh"n kiye jne kiye jne/kiye jn?e
something kala ekthi kala gut?e ka gut?e/kn got?e

5.1.3.1.2.7 Interrogative Pronouns

Most of the interrogative pronouns in Laria (O) have also been borrowed from Sambalpuri. The table given below illustrates.

C/Laria (M.P.) Laria (O) Sambalpuri/Oriya
who kon kiye kiye/kiye
which kala ken ken/kou
what kae kala/kae kaE)/kn
when k"tka ber ketekhn ketekhn/kete bel?e
who all kon m"n ken mne ken mane/kou mane
what all kon j"ni ka gera kaE)/kn gud?a
how kab"r kenta kenta/kemiti

5.1.3.1.3 Adjective Inflection

The comparison markers for equality and comparative/superlative have been borrowed from Sambalpuri.

C/L (M.P.) L(O) S/O
Equality j"tki jetki jetki/jetiki
Comparative le nu nu/t?haru

5.1.3.1.4 Verbs

In verb morphology, all the inflections, i.e. Tense, Aspect, Mood, Number, Person have been retained in the language. As inflectional morphology tends to be highly structured it is least susceptible to borrowing/interference. This view o Thonason & Kaufman (1988) has been reaffirmed by Laria.

5.1.3.2 Derivational Morphology

Most of the derivational processes in all the three languages are the same. Some of the word formation processes have been compared below.

5.1.3.2.1 Nouns from Nouns

In all the three languages '-i' suffix is added to nouns to create nouns. For example

sa:ha:s 'courage' - sahasi 'courageous'
sikar 'hunted'- - sikari 'hunter'
lobh 'greed' - lobhi 'greedy person'

'-ami' suffix can be added to nouns to derive abstract nouns. This word formation process seems to be borrowed from Oriya. The examples below illustrate.

Laria (O) Oriya
murukh 'fool'- murkhami 'foolishness' murh 'fool' - murkhami 'foolishness'
bhdr 'civilized' - bhdrami 'civility' bhdr 'civilized' - bhdrami 'civility'

5.1.3.2.2 Nouns from Verbs

Laria (O) has borrowed the strategy of deriving nouns from verbs by participial formation from Sambalpuri

Laria (O) Sambalpuri
bu:h 'carry' - pa:en buha 'water bearer' bu:h 'carry' - paen buha 'water bearer'
bs 'sit' - bsla pi:la 'the boy who is sitting' bs 'sit' - bsla pi:la 'the boy who is sitting'

Nouns also can be derived from verbs by adding the -nia suffix. This strategy also has been borrowed from Sambalpuri.

Laria (O) Sambalpuri
na:c 'dance' - ncnia 'dancer' na:c 'dance' - ncnia 'dancer'
ra:ndh 'cook' - rndhnia 'cook' ra:ndh 'cook' - rndhnia 'cook'

Apart from these derivational strategies all other strategies are also found in Chattisgarhi / Laria (M.P.)

5.1.3.3 Reduplication (Echo Formation)

Both Chattisgarhi/Laria (M.P.) and Laria (O) have similar stratergies for echo-formation. For example

C/L (M.P.) muswa-muswi 'mouse and the like'
L(O) musa-musi 'mouse and the like'

However, both these languages have borrowed newer strategies - Chattisgarhi / Laria (M.P.) from Hindi and Laria (O) from Oriya. For example

C/L(M.P.) bak"s-vak"s 'box and the like'
L(O) gadi-phadi 'Vehicle and the like'

5.1.3.4 Numerals

The numerals system and loss of anintervocalic germination in Laria has been borrowed from Sambalpuri as can be seen from some of the examples given below:

C/L (M.P.) L(O) S/O
4 - ca:r 4 - caer 4 -caer/cari
19 - unnis 19 - uneis 19 - uneis/uneisi
70 - s"tt"r 70 - stor 70 - stor/sturi

5.1.3.5 Quantifiers

Quantifiers have also been borrowed from Sambalpuri as illustrated below:

C/L (M.P.) L(O) S/O
i:tki 'this much' etki 'this much' etki/citiki 'this much'
otki 'that much' setki 'that much' setki/setiki 'that much'

Thus in the case of morphological borrowings we can see that closed system of inflectional endings, as in the case of verb inflections, i.e., tense, aspect, mood, number, person and possessive pronouns, have been maintained while open systems such as reflexive pronouns, numerals, quantifiers, derivational morphology etc. have been replaced by sambalpuri system.

5.1.4 LEXICAL BORROWING

The most visible feature of language contact phenomena is lexical borrowing. There is no doubt that lexical borrowing is less restricted to the bilingual portion of a language community than phonic or grammatical interference15. The vocabulary of a language, considerably more loosely structured than its phonemics and its grammar, is beyond question the domain of borrowing par excellence16.

Some of the major reasons why lexical borrowing takes place are given by Weinreich.

The need to designate new things, persons, places and concepts is, obviously, a universal cause of lexical innovation. Internal factors such as low frequency of words are also responsible for lexical borrowing. It has been shown that, other things being equal, the frequent words come easily to mind and are therefore more stable; relatively infrequent words of the vocabulary are accordingly, less stable, more subject to oblivion and replacement17.

Sometimes a word seems to have been borrowed from another language in order to resolve the clash of homonyms18.

Another reason for lexical innovation is the tendency of affective words to lose their expressive force. Where synonyms are available from another language, they are gladly accepted19.
__________
15 Ibid, p.56
16 A. Meillet (1938), c.f., U. Weinreich, op.cit., p.56
17 L. Jakubinskij (1926), c.f., U. Weinreich, op. cit., p.57
18 U. Weinrich, op. cit., p. 57.
19 Ibid, p. 58.

Three additional factors may prompt lexical borrowings on the part of bilinguals. First, a comparison with the other languages to which he is exposed may lead him to feel that some of his semantic fields are insufficiently differentiated.20 Abbi (1992) is also of a similar view. Language conflation is associated with expansion of lexical items borrowed or adopted, borrowing of linguistic structures not existing in earlier forms to the extent of acquiring complex structures and filling in semantic voids by new and newer structures21. Second, the symbolic association of the source language in a contact situation with social values, either positive or negative if one language is endowed with prestige, the bilingual is likely to use what are identifiable loanwords from it as a means of displaying the social status which its knowledge symbolizes. Finally, a bilingual's speech may suffer form the interference of another vocabulary through mere oversight; that is, the limitations on the distribution of certain words to utterances belonging to one languages are violated.22

5.1.4.1 Basic Vocabulary

As all the languages are genetically very close to each other a lot of lexical items, even in the basic word list, are the same. A round 55% of the basic words in Chattisgarhi / Laria (M.P.) are same as that of Sambalpuri. The basic word list of M. Swadesh (1955) and Gudschinsky (1956) and Typical Indian Words for Field Work (Abbi 1993) represents a list of high frequency use words which are most resistant to linguistic interference or change. An analysis of these 305 words shows that only 6% of the list has been retained. However the degree of lexical borrowing varies with three major criteria: rural-urban
___________________
20 Ibid, pp. 59-60
21 A. Abbi(1992), op. cit., p.45.
22 U.Weinrich, op.cit., p. 60.

Distribution, age and sex. Old people especially uneducated women have retained some of the basic word list and the retention rate goes upto 18%. Lexical borrowing is highest among the young educated urban mass. It was also found that women retained more of the basic word list then men. It was also found that women retained more of the basic word list then men. This may be because they are more confined to their homes while men go out to work and hence interact more. Moreover they tend to adopt the language of social prestige or the lingua franca, to be accepted in the peer group.

The basic word list has been analysed according to the following categories given by Mishra23.

(a) Numerals: All the numerals given in the basic word list - one to five have been
borrowed from Sambalpuri.

(b) Kinship Terms: bua/bapa 'father'. bhai 'brother', mã 'mother', bhin 'sister' are
borrowed from Sambalpuri.

(c) Body Part Nomenclature: chati 'heart', hat hand' gor? 'leg', ba:l 'hair' etc. all body
part nomenclature has been borrowed from Sambalpuri.

(d) Natural Object: Most of the natural objects like smudr 'sea', brph 'ice'. ghas
'grass'. badl 'could', kuhuri 'fog', psu 'animal' have been borrowed from
Sambalpuri.
_________________________
23 A. K. Mishra (1996), Word Formation and Langauge Change in Kurux. Tara Book Agency. Varanasi, pp. 87-88.

(e) The Tempral Organisation: The nouns used to denote discrete time like mas 'month',
brs 'year' have been borrowed from Sambalpuri.

(f) Adjectives: Most of the basic objectives have been borrowed from Sambalpuri, for
example, b hl 'good'. t?ike/km 'little', cikn 'smooth', uda 'wet'.

The colour terms have also been borrowed from Sambalpuri, for example, hldia
'yellow', sagua 'green'.

(g) Artefacts: In the basic vocabulary there are only a few words for objects of artifacts.
All these are Sambalpuri loans, for example, bar?i 'stick', rsi 'rope', brcha 'spear'.

(h) Verbs: Most of the verbs in Laria are loan words from Sambalpuri. Some of the verbs
in the basic vocabulary are bhuk bar 'to bark', cab bar 'to bite', gn bar 'to count',
kat bar 'to cut', ld? bar 'go fight', jm bar 'to freeze', dhr bar 'to hold', bhus bar
'to stab', bhab bar 'to think' etc. have all been borrowed from Sambalpuri.

(i) Adverbs, form word (conjuctions etc.) etc.: Some of the form words like hene 'at',
jdi 'if', bhitre 'in', kebhe 'when', kiye 'who' have also been borrowed from
Sambalpuri. Some of the form words like ila 'this', ka:e 'what' krlagi 'because'
have been retained in the language.

(j) Edible items: All the edible items are loans from Sambalpuri for example, dhan 'rice
(paddy), 'pkhal 'rice (stale)', am 'mango', kuser 'sugarcane' etc.

(k) Flora & Fauna: All the lexical items for flora & fauna have been borrowed from
Sambalpuri, for example hati 'elephant', kua 'crow', machi 'fly', jhuri 'fish' etc.

(l) Adornment: All the items of adornment have been borrowed from Sambalpuri except,
cauri 'chutila'. Example beni 'plait', khusa 'jura', t?ika 'bindi' etc.

5.1.4.2 Kinship terms

Apart from the borrowed terms for cultural/material artifacts given in the basic word list, Laria has borrowed gratuitously from Sambalpuri. Some of the examples are kht? 'bed', d?heki 'mortar', t?a?gia/pharsa 'axe', culha 'hearth' jhula 'bag', muna 'pouch', g hurna 'fence', sikla 'bolt', ghnt?a big bell', ghnt?I 'small bell', nli 'blow pipe', it?a 'brick', cuki 'chair', bichna 'hand fan', kbja 'hinge',jhrka 'window', ghi 'ghee', leoni 'butter', trkari 'curry', jisu 'Jesus', girja 'church', mitu 'parrot', peta 'sacred thread'.

5.1.4.4 Body Parts

Some more terms borrowed from Sambalpuri for body parts can be exemplified as follows, ba:h 'arm', khãkh 'armpit'. )ta 'waist'. ga:l 'check', kpal 'forehead', pnjra 'rib'.
5.1.4.5 Loan Adjectives

A few more adjectives borrowed from Oriya and Sambalpuri have been given below. The Oriya loans are used generally by the educated Agharias.

Oriya loans - udyogi 'industrious', pryogi 'experimental', prgatisi:l 'progressive', unntisil 'progressive', akrmonsi:l 'aggressive', ra:striy 'national', ntrdesi 'inland'.

Sambalpuri loans - telia 'oily', nunia 'salty', hldia 'yellow', lalia 'reddish'.

After studying the linguistic aspects of language contact i.e. interference/borrowing in case of Laria can be shown. Loans words can be most easily incorporated into the language maybe initially as synonyms. Then due to pressure of the dominant language they subsequently replace the original word in the succeeding generations. Moreover due to adjustment in a new culture, new words for the cultural/material artfacts that are required can be easily borrowed from the dominant language. With the borrowing of lexical items, new phonemes are also borrowed into the language and hence phonological interference takes place. Hence sounds are borrowed next. Due to close interaction, cultural contact with the dominant language group, the migrant community almost totally becomes bilingual (It is 100% in the case of Agharias). Thus with the usage of both the languages and increasing peer group pressure syntactic borrowing is bound to take place. With prolonged compound bilingualism, word formation processes, especially derivational processes, are incorporated in the language. Inflectional systems are rather closed systems and therefore they are most resistant to change. Therefore the hierarchy of borrowing in Laria can be given as follows:

High Lexical items
Phonology

Ease of Borrowing Syntax

Low Derivational
Morphology
Inflectional

Thomason and kaufman (1988) have given a model for linguistic results of language contact. Laria is a perfect example of contact - induced language change in language maintenance. The model is as given below:

LINGUISTICS RESULTS OF LANGUAGE CONTACT

CONTACT - INDUCED LANGUAGE CHANGE
(IN LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE)
Casual contact = little bilingualism among borrowing language speakers ONLY (non basic) VOCABULARY BORROWED
Intensive contact including much bilingualism among borrowing languagespeakers over a period of time
MUCH LEXICAL BORROWING; MODERATE TO HEAVYSTRUCTURAL BORROWING especially phonology and syntax
Overwhelming long term cultural pressure from the source language to speakergroup : MASSIVE GRAMMATICAL REPLACEMENT

5.2 LANGUAGE DEATH

In assessing the degree of language attrition, apart from the linguistic factors, various extra linguistic factors like speakers' attitude, numerical strength, social class etc. have to be taken into consideration. Dorian (1989) has given some Focus Questions to make a proper assessment24. These questions have been dealt with to judge the situation of Laria.

________________________
24 N. C. Dorian(ed.) (1989), Investigating Obsolescence : Studies in language contraction and death, Cambridge University Press. Cambridge,p.7.

1. Problems in locating terminal speakers and assessing their skills?

(a) Self-definition: Do the speakers claim speaker status and ethnic membership?

Yes, speakers do claim speaker status and ethnic membership although more than 70% of the respondents do not know that their language is known as Laria. They refer to their language as ha:mr ghria bhasa 'our Aghria Language'.

(b) How does the speech community identify its members, internally and with respect to
outsiders?

The speech community identifies its members as that of one community which has migrated and belong to one caste (i.e. upper caste Rajputs). They have an upper caste status in the society. Initially they were looked down upon by the Oriya Brahmins. Most of the Agharias are landowners and therefore employers of the lower castes.

(c) What approaches can investigators adopt to gain access to speakers and to assess
speakers skills with some degree of reliability?

Speakers of Laria (O) can be found in most of the villages of Sungargarh and Sambalpur districts. Apart from this, due to social mobility they can be found in most of the cities of Orissa. The researcher himself being a native speaker of the language, was easily accepted in all homes and could elicit data.

(d) What special problems are created by negative prestige or outright stigmatization for
the display of skills and the opportunity to assess them?

Generally when asked the speakers displayed their skills of the language even if tey spoke Sambalpuri amongst themselves. Only 8% of the informants could not speak the language. Most of them were young, urban- educated in the age group of 4 - 20 years.

2. Skewed performance in terminal speech communities

(e) Are there constraints operating to reduce display of language skills, such as paucity of interlocutors, insufficiently initiated audiences or traditionaloccupations associated with verbal activity?

Laria is spoken only in the homes of Agharias. All the cultural activities are either in Sambalpuri or Oriya. Some Laria songs were sung at marriage or death functions till early 80's but now they have been replaced by Sambalpuri equivalent.

(f) Can highly valued cultural activities preserve specialised skills beyond the speakers' genuine productive capacity and even beyond the ability of either speaker or audience to comprehend the performance fully?

Laria is not used for any kind of cultural activity.

(g) Can highly valued verbal activities be preserved at a minimum level with reduced linguistic means (e.g. can forms of extended discourse be continued despite loss of all a few conjunction or subordination mechanisms)?

Discourse at all levels can be done in Laria.

(h) What are the consequences of greatly unbalanced skills which are more typically symmetrical in 'healthier' languages (production and reception; writing and reading; more formal and less formal registers)?

In normal day-to-day conversation Laria can be used without any problems. As it does not have an independent script it cannot be used in formal registers where Oriya is used and hence lot of Oriya loans have been incorporated into the language.

3. Linguistic change and reductive processes as a structured phenomena

(i) Can this be demonstrated for various types of speakers in terminal speech communities, say:

(a) the formerly fluent

(i) the children whose normal early skills decay?

(ii) young adults who relocate and cease to use their home language?

(b) children and grandchildren of immigrants?

(c) the impaired (the hard of hearing, the mentally retarded)?

(a) (i) No.

(ii) Yes, but very few.

(b) No, as Laria is the language of one particular community, immigrants speak the lingua frnca Sambalpuri.

(c) Yes.

(j) Is variablility typically higher in terminal speech communities than in healthy one, or is variability itself variable?

Varaibly is quite high among Laria speakers. Younger speakers especially male speakers tend to use more Sambalpuri and Oriya lexical items. Young urban youth nowadays use more English and even Hindi lexical items in their speech.

(k) Does variability carry the freight of social meaning in terminal speech communities that it does in the urban communities where it has been most intensively studied?

Yes, it does. It shows the effects of the dominant language/s, speaker's attitude towards the language, the position of the speech community and the level of their acceptance in the society.

(l) Can certain types of change be expected to show up earlier in the decline of a speech form and certain other types typically later?

Yes, this has been discussed earlier in the chapter in section 5.1.
(m) Are particular types of change likely to be associated with particular language typologies, regardless of genetic affiliations?

Yes, if a proper environment is provided languages tend to be typologically more consistent. Laria has almost all the characteristics of a verb-final language.

4. The phenomena of abrupt transmission or 'trip' and of the persistence against seemingly high odds

(n) Can sudden cessation of home language transmission or use be established within

(a) Individuals? (b) particular communities?
(c) families? (d) regions, ethnic groups, or whole countries?

Yes, in case Laria it can be established within individuals and families.

(o) Can such 'tip' to the dominant language be traced to:

(a) personal trauma (experience of discrimination, perception of personal 'difference',
etc.)?

(b) family dynamics or size?

(c) external events such as war with the ancestral country of origin, sharp economic
expansion or contraction, sudden development of communication with outside
regions, introduction of compulsory military service or education in the dominant
language?

(d) tacit group-wide change in norms and values?

(e) a number of these combinations?

In the case of Laria it can be attributed to external events such as migration to urban areas and metro cities.

(p) Where persistence appears against seemingly high odds, is this:

(a) a group trait which correlates with other conservaties ethnic behaviours?

(b) a boundary marker, associated with self-definition or conscious exclusion of or by
others?

(c) a reflection of an unusual degree of voluntary or involuntary isolation (geographical /
physical, cultural / material)?

(d) a feature of family or individual behaviour which reflects such factors as
(i) level of education and / or awareness of cultural heritage?

(ii) family or kin structure of a particular sort?

(iii) personal experience which enhances the value of ethnic identity?

(iv) political action (or reaction)?

(v) a recognizable personality type which appears sporadically among the population?

(vi) accidental isolation by distance or physical difference (hearing impairment,
blindness, or other physical or mental peculiarity)?

The persistence of Laria among the Agharias is due to:

(a) It is a group trait which correlates with other conservative ethnic behaviour. Many of
the religious and social functions of the Agharias are different from that of the local
populace.

(b) It can also be treated as a boundary marker associated with self-identity.

(c) It is definitely a features of family or individual behaviour which is based on very
close knit family or kin structure. The Agharias of Orissa do not allow marriage
outside the community, so much so that marriage alliance even with the Agharias of
Madhya Pradesh is rare.

Landry & Allard have distinguished two types of bilingualism for multi/bilingual communities. Whenever L2 experience complements L1 experience without jeopardizing the full development of L1, bilingualism would be an additive process. Conversely, whenever the acquisition of L2 results in lower L1 development, bilingualism becomes a subtractive process25.

In the case of Laria, a diglossic situation does occur, with Laria being spoken only at home, and Oriya and Sambalpuri being spoken in the socio-institutional milieu and school milieu. Such a diglossic situation, according to Landry & Allard, reinforces the low status of the minority group and there is a tendency towards language shift. 'The demographic vitality, the degree of control of the economy, the degree of political power and the cultural capital of each community interact and provide social settings which will largely determine at the socio-psychological leel, the quantity and quality of the opportunities for linguistic contact in both L1 & L2 for members of both communities26.

The Agharias have major control over the economy of the area they live in. They also have a major say in politics and have maintained their culture even while borrowing from the society. Therefore the strong belief in L1 and L1 identify and the high degree of use of L1 within the community just about counterbalances the linguistic domination of

___________________________
25 R. Landry and R. Allard (1992), Ethnolinguistic Vitality and Bilingual Development of Minority and Majority Languages. In W. Fase et. al. (eds.), Maintenances and Loss of Minority Languages, John Benjamins, Publishing Company, Amsterdam, p. 226.
26 Ibid., p. 227.

Sambalpuri and Oriya in the socio-institutional milieu and school milieu. This helps in language maintenance of Laria.

According to Edwards, a comprehensive typology would be a useful tool for description and comparison, leading to more complete conceptualization of minority language situations, and perhaps permitting predictions to be made concerning shift/maintenance outcomes.27

Haugen was the first to give such a typological approach. He posed ten ecological questions which have been answered here for Laria.

1. How is the language classified vis-à-vis other languages (a matter of historical and
descriptive linguistics)?

Laria is a sub-dialect of Chattisgarhi, which is classified by Govt of India under the Mandhya - Desia group of Indo-Aryan languages.

2. Who uses the language (linguistic demography)?

Laria in Orissa is used by a small migrant community in Western Orissa in the districts of Sundargarh, Sambalpur and parts of Bolangir, called the 'Agharias.' They were previously a sedentary community but now they have started to migrate to towns and cities.

3. What are the domains of the languages (sociolinguistics)?

This language is used only in intra-group communication.
__________________
27 J. Edwards, op.cit., p. 51

4. What other languages are used by its speakers (dialinguistics)?

All Agharias are bilingual speakers of Sambalpuri. All educated speakers speak Oriya, the medium of education and those living in urban areas can also speal Hindi and English.

5. What are the language's internal varieties (dialectology)?

There are no varieties in the language.

6. What are its written traditions (philology)?

As Laria has no script it has no written traditions.

7. What is the language's degree of standardization (prescriptive linguistics)?

No Standardisation is involved

8. What institutional support does the language have (glottopolitics)?

The Agharia commuity has an apex body of its own called 'The Agharia Samaj' which uses Laria in its meetings and encourages the use of Laria in the community.

9. What attitudes towards the language are held by its speakers (ethnolinguistics)?

Most Agharias learn their mother tongue in their homes and use it in their homes. They are not ashamed of being speakers of a majority language. Only a very few families have shifted to Sambalpuri although they know their language. Some children of migrant families living in cities cannot speak their language properly and can be termed as semi-speakers.

10. Where do all these factors place the language in relation to other languages
(ecological classification)?

Laria is a majority language at all geographical levels i.e. village, city, block, district etc., the dominant languages being Sambalpuri and Oriya. Laria is not a language used for education. It is not a high status language. Since Agharias are powerful both economically and politically especially in the villages, Laria is not scorned by other members of the society/villages.

Even though most of the ecological factors are against Laria, speaker's attitude towards their mother tongue helps the language to survive.

Edwards (1992) has provided an improved model for ecology of language. On the basis of the framework given in Chapter 1 section 1.4 he has given thirty three questions which have been answered for Laria.

1. Number and concentration of speakers?

The Agharias are around 10,000 in number and are spread over 311 villages in more than 1500 families (joint families have been considered)

2. Extent of the language (see also geography)?

The Agharias are found mainly in two districts of western Orissa. They are also found in pockets of Balangir district.

3. Rural-urban nature of setting?
The Agharias are mainly a rural community. Due to social mobility now some people (around 20%) have moved to towns and cities

4. Socio-economic status of speakers?

The Agharias claim to be Rajputs and as most of them are landowners, they occupy a high socio-economic status in the society.

5. Degree and type of language transmission ?

Laria is spoken only in in-group communication and therefore is used only in informal setting.

6. Nature of previous/current maintenance or revival efforts?

Apart from the only institution 'The Agharia Samaj' which encourages the use of Laria in homes, there is no maintenance effort as such.

7. Language capabilities of speakers?

All Agharias are compound bilinguals, learning Laria and Sambalpuri as their first language. With the spread of education, they have also becomes co-ordinate bilinguals learning Oriya and some of them even English as their 2nd language

8. Degree of language standardization?

No standardization.

9. Nature of in-and-out-migration?

The Agharia have slowly started moving towards towns and cities in search of better jobs.

10. Language attitude of speakers?

Most of the speakers have a positive attitude towards their language. Only a few individuals and families have 'tipped' towards the dominant language.

11. Aspects of the language-identity relationship?

Laria is associated only with the Agharias of Orissa. Therefore, it is an identity marker of this minority group.

12. Attitudes of the majority group towards the minority?

The Agharias have been well accepted and occupy a high status in the society, especially in the villages. Originally nly the Oriya Brahmins were suspicious about the origin of the Agharias. This attitude does not exist any more.

13. History and background of the group?

The Agharias claim to be Rajputs who migrated from Agra in the last decade of the 15th century. A detailed history is given in the 1st chapter.

14. History of the language?

Laria is a sub-dialect of Chattisgarhi which is spoken in eastern Madhya Pradesh.

15. History of the area in which the group lives?

The area was divided into small kingdoms which were under the rule of the British. In 1947 they became independent and became a part of Orissa.

16. Rights and recognition of speakers?

The speakers are now citizens of independent India . They do not have any special rights or recognition.

17. Degree and extent of official recognition?

Only the 'People of India Series IX Langauges & Scripts' recognizes the language of Agharia as Laria - otherwise there is no other official recognition.

18. Degree of autonomy or 'special status' of the area?

None

19. The Agharias can be typologically put as Non-unique minorities.

20. They are Adjoining ; found in the states of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh

21. Aghariasare a cohesive group?

22. Speaker's attitudes and involvement regarding education?

Almost all the Agharias are educated at least upto the 10th standard. A majority of the young mass is going in for higher education.

23. Type of school for language?

There is no support for Laria in schools.
24. State of education in the area?

Level of education is quite substantial in the area with lot of institutions for higher education.

25. Religion of speakers?

All Agharias are Hindus.

26. Type and strength of association between language and religion?

There is no association between language and religion. All religious functions are done in Oriya.

27. Importance of religion in the area?

Religion holds a very important place in the area. Although people of different religious are tolerant towards each other, exo-religious marriages are very rare.

28. Economic health of the speaker group?

The speakers are generally economically well-off with most of them being landowners or working in white-collared jobs in towns and cities.

29. Association between language(s) and economic success/mobility?

With the increase in social mobility speakers have started learning other languages. Due to this trend some of them have shifted to high prestige language of that area.

30. Economic health of the region?

Western Orissa is an economically backward area, one of te poorest in the country.

31. Group representation in the media?

There is no representation in the media.

32. Langauge representation in media?

There is no representation of Laria in the media.

33. General public awareness of the area?

Apart from the people in the same area nobody knows of the Agharia community. Even the people of Orissa do not know about te Agharias.

Even though most of ecological factors are against the language. Laria still persists in the homes of the Agharias. This is because of the cohesiveness of the community and their positive attitude towards their language. As Fishman (1982) puts it: a language will not die till it is being transmitted in the homes.

Dressler (1991), similar to Dorain (1981) has developed a proficiency continuum of six groups of speakers according to qualitative and quantitative criteria of their competence in Breton28. Speakers of Laria (O) have been put in the above model with the following results. Around 20% of the informants fall in the 1st category of Healthy Speakers.

Most of the respondents, around 70%, fall in the 2nd category of Weaker Speakrs.

None of the informants fall in 3rd and 4th category of Pre-terminal and Better terminal speakers.

Around 5%, most of them in the age group 0-10 years, living in cities fall in the 5th category of Worse Terminal speakers. Rememberers (6th category) are also 5%. Most of them are also children in the age group 0-10 years, living in the cities.

Thus, only 10% of the total respondants can be termed as 'Terminal Speakers' or 'Semi-speakers'. The other 90% of te population are healthy speakers of the language. Therefore we can see that even though Laria has borrowed heavily in all aspects of language, it still persists in the homes of the Agharias. The Agharias have therefore reached a state of stable bi-lingualism which is a criteria for language maintenance (Pandharipande, 1992), which she has labeled as co-existence29.

_______________________
28 W.U.Dressler (1991), 'The sociolinguistic and patholinguistic attrition of Breton Phonology, morphology, and morphology', in H.W. Seliger and R. Vago (eds.), First Langauge attrition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p.99.
29 R.Pandharipande (1992), 'Langauge shift in India: Issues and Implications', in W Faze et al. (ed.). Maintenance and Loss of Minority Langauegs, John Benjamins, Amsterdam, p.259.

5.3 LANGAUGE AND ETHNICITY

Fishman uses the term ethnically to denote 'a bond (self-perceived and or ascribed by others with or without objectives justification) to a historically continuous authentic collectivity30.

Ethnicity is thus co-terminus with the awareness of membership in, and affiliation with an ethnos, the awareness of which is based on a sense of sharing those traits in and through which a given ethnos constructs its identity and its history.

Veltman (1991) has established four basic language use categories ranging from monolingualism in the mother tongue to monolingualism in a host language for a multi-/bilingual community. This has been adapted for Laria as follows:

1. Monolingualism in Laria is nil, as all Laria speakers in Orissa are bilinguals.

2. Laria dominant bilingualism is 15%. Only old women and some housewives who do
not have much interaction with the society, come under this category.

3. Sambalpuri / Oriya / Hindi dominant multi-/bilingualism is 75%. All the men, working
women, boys & girls studying in schools and colleges come under this category.

___________________________
30 J.A.Fishman (1983), c.f., W. Enneger (1991), 'Linguistic Markers of Anabaptist Ethinically through Four Centuries', in J.R.Dow (ed.). Language & Ethnically, John Benjamins Publishing company, Amsterdam, p.23.

4. Monolingualism in Sambalpuri, Oriya or Hindi is 10%. Most of them are young
children in the age group 0-20 years whose parents have migrated to towns and cities.
These speakers have a passive knowledge of Laria.

The catogories are aligned according to a language shift continuum. Categories 1 and 2 are for language retention and 3 and 4 are for language transfer.

Figuratively, the speakers can be arranged on a shift-maintenance cline as below:

Shift -10% Monoligualism in Sambalpuri / Oriya / Hindi
-75% Sambalpuri/Oriya/Hindi dominant bilingualism
- 15% Laria dominant bilingualism
Maintenance - 0% Monoligualism

The shift-maintenance shows that around 85% of the Laria speaking respondents fall in the category of 'langauge transfer' or 'language shift'. Why is it tat even then the language is maintained in the community?

Abbi (1999) has given reasons for this. The multilingualism of coexisting and not of competing nature which allows a speaker to assign various domains to different languages have identified the role of real mother tongue (the indigenous language) for intra-tribe / folk communication31. The mainstream ideaology in India has been that of pluralism with a side stream ideology of assimilation. The linguistic and cultural differences are respected and allowed to flourish in India. Thus all the minority societies have been able to maintain
________________________
31 A. Abbi (1999), 'Languages of the Minority Communities of India : Issues and Perspectives'. SALA XX, Paper presented at University of lllinois, p.14.

their ethnicity in terms of language and culture while assimilating themselves with the dominant/mainstream society.

Secondly, literacy programs and other educational opportunities that are easily available to scheduled language speakers, are missing in the tribal regions.32 Even though he Laria speakers in Orissa have a literacy rate of more than 85%, most of the Agharias do not go in for higher education. Most of them settle down with smalls jobs near their villages.

Thirdly, according to Abbi, an important reason for mother-tongue retention has been the cultural and psychological make up that these speakers have towards their language. More than the identity marker, mother tongue has been seen as a 'personal matter', satisfying a psychological role, something which is out of bounds of external intervention33. This argument holds good for the case of Laria also. Even though 95% of the respondents do not know that their language is known as Laria, they still maintain their language. Joint-family ties are very strong among Indians and language is a very important means of maintaining these ties. Therefore even though lots of Laria speakers have migrated to towns and cities and have become Sambalpuri/Oriya/Hindi dominant bilinguals, they still maintain their language.
_____________
32 Ibid.
33 Ibid.